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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
160
Not
so
long
ago
the
New
York
papers
published
the
experience
of
a
gentleman
who
bought
a
very
beautiful
divan
in
a
European
furniture
shop.
He
paid
for
it--you
may
be
sure
of
that!--and
he
could
hardly
wait
for
its
arrival
to
show
it
to
his
less
fortunate
neighbors.
Within
a
few
months
something
happened
to
the
lining
of
the
divan,
and
he
discovered
on
the
inside
of
the
frame
the
maker's
name
and
address.
Imagine
his
chagrin
when
he
found
that
the
divan
had
been
made
at
a
furniture
factory
in
his
own
country.
You
can't
be
sorry
for
him,
you
feel
that
it
served
him
right.
This
is
an
excellent
example
of
the
vain
collector
who
cannot
judge
for
himself,
but
will
not
admit
it.
He
has
not
developed
his
sense
of
beauty,
his
instinct
for
excellence
of
workmanship.
He
thinks
that
because
he
has
the
money
to
pay
for
the
treasure,
the
treasure
must
be
genuine--hasn't
he
chosen
it?
I
can
quite
understand
the
pleasure
that
goes
with
furnishing
a
really
old
house
with
objects
of
the
period
in
which
the
house
was
built.
A
New
England
farmhouse,
for
instance,
may
be
an
inspiration
to
the
owner,
and
you
can
understand
her
quest
of
old
fashioned
rush
bottomed
chairs
and
painted
settles
and
quaint
mirrors
and
blue
homespun
coverlets.
You
can
understand
the
man
who
falls
heir
to
a
good,
square
old
Colonial
house
who
wishes
to
keep
his
furnishings
true
to
the
period,
but
you
cannot
understand
the
crying
need
for
Eighteenth
Century
furniture
in
a
modern
shingle
house,
or
the
desire
for
old
spinning
wheels
and
battered
kitchen
utensils
in
a
Spanish
stucco
house,
or
Chippendale
furniture
in
a
forest
bungalow.
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